


Of Mischief and Love

by Kimmy



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Everything is Beautiful and Nothing Hurts, Fluff, Getting Together, Humor, M/M, Warning: Loki (Marvel)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-15
Updated: 2020-11-15
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:49:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,191
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27578747
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kimmy/pseuds/Kimmy
Summary: No one has ever looked at Loki like that. Steve didn't draw him the way royal painters did. His attention was just as intense but instead of clinical and unfeeling it was... gentle, and caring.
Relationships: Loki/Steve Rogers
Comments: 22
Kudos: 85





	Of Mischief and Love

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Pinky_Wisteria](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pinky_Wisteria/gifts).



> Snarky decided to be in a Frostshield mood and henceworth made me be in a Frostshield mood. She drew [this lovely comic ](https://snarkyship.tumblr.com/post/634847228855517184/steve-knows-that-loki-knows-hes-drawing-him-but) that inspired me and here we are!

When the Avengers went back to the tower to retreat Loki, they didn’t quite expect the reaction they got. The alien screamed, tried to move away, groaned in pain, and put a green shimmering barrier between them before they could blink.

„Thor! What is happening? Where am I?”

Thor didn’t answer. Everyone seemed confused, Steve and Natasha suspicious, and Bruce found a couch and went to sleep, uncaring for a villain situation. That was when Tony said it.

„Um, guys? If he could do this shield mumbo jumbo with his magic and energy through a hulking, why didn’t he do it, you know? Before. When he could have easily defeated us that way?”

And that was how they learned Loki was mind-controlled and Tony just nuked a powerful cosmic overlord called Thanos to death. Overall a good end of the day.

***

Loki has since joined the Avengers and proven himself a powerful ally in battle and a great friend. He had also, happily, proven himself a menace.

No one was quite sure when it stopped being about proving everyone he was much more powerful and annoying when in his right mind and showing off that he really wasn’t trying to win the invasion, and started being about, well, Loki being Loki, but with Tony and Clint enabling him, Loki very quickly made himself a reputation as a prankster.

And an enemy in Fury.

So when Steve ended up hit by some fancy magic ray that brought him back to his five foot and ready to be knocked out by a gust of wind glory? Fury was sure this was a perfect solution. Loki wouldn’t do anything to Steve with the pitiful look protecting him, Steve would keep his responsible mind and control Loki if necessary and well, there wasn’t much mischief to cause on guard duty, right? The entire point was for Loki to put Steve on the sofa and keep an eye on him.

Right?

Wrong.

„Technically they never said we cannot leave the tower. Just that I need to keep an eye on you, and should they find a solution, which, contrary to their belief, will not happen overnight if even my magic failed to do so, then I can always just teleport us back.”

Steve laughed, grabbing another donut from a box Loki was carrying.

„I love the way you think.”

What everyone seemed to not take into consideration was that under the mask of responsibility and the patriotic onesie, Steve was still a little shit, and apparently looking the way he did once just reminded him of that. He claimed it was the freedom to not be recognized, a thrill of being able to spark a fight without knowing he would win.

Loki happily offered to beat him into the ground even after he gets the serum back but also took him out on a walk where they got donuts and proceeded to cause trouble. Or: Steve found trouble, and Loki taught him more refined ways of dealing with it.

„Why did you stop me? The guy should clean up after his dog?”

Loki just smirked.

„I do not disagree. Now turn around and watch.”

Steve turned around and looked at the man walking down the street. Where the nasty pile was behind him and his little monster of a yorkshire terrier, a green shimmer appeared and the poop was gone. Steve smiled.

„Where did it go?”

„His living room carpet.”

Steve laughed, and they continued to stroll around the park, making themselves a nuisance, sharing their experience from a much different world they grew up in, and eating donuts Loki helpfully kept refilling.

At the end of the day, Loki even put a spell on Steve, giving him superhuman strength despite tiny stature, and allowed him to beat up a guy who was torturing a small black kitten in the back alley. The kitten went home with them.

And the best thing?

Fury would never find a way to blame anything on them.

Except maybe, the bill for the donuts on his desk.

***

When Loki was on guard duty, when they weren’t walking around Manhattan and Brooklyn causing problems on purpose (only for those who deserved it), Steve would often sketch. Loki never peeked into the sketchbooks. He figured it was a private thing, as much as Loki’s own art felt to him. They would just share a pot of tea, and common space, and pleasant silence.

Loki did not expect this weird sort of friendship they struck up to last once Steve no longer needed Loki to protect him. So when a week later Tony and Bruce presented Steve with the new serum, Loki thought that’s it.

But the next morning he ended up on the sofa in the living room with a cup of tea, Random the Avengers Kitten beside him, and his book, and soon heavy but quiet footsteps joined him. He glanced at Steve’s mug being put on the table next to his but didn’t say a word. Soon, a familiar and welcoming scratch of pencil on paper started.

Loki reached the end of the chapter, and realized silence surrounded him. He glanced up and saw Steve looking at him, before blushing and turning back to the paper.

Oh.

_Oh._

Steve was drawing _him_.

Loki felt himself blush in return and tried hard to focus back on the book, and not wiggle too much.

It was... a new and not unwelcome feeling, being admired. As royalty, Loki wasn’t unfamiliar with the attention, but it was rarely on him as a person, and often focused more on Thor anyway. Being looked at in that way was fresh and almost, exhilarating.

And it wasn’t just that.

It was the fact _Steve_ looked at _Loki_ like that and Loki... liked it.

Oh, indeed.

Steve cleared his throat and Loki looked up, closing the book he no longer pretended to read.

„I... I know you know I was drawing you so, anyway... I’m done? If you’d like to see?”

Loki just nodded, struck speechless, and gently took the sketchbook from Steve.

Random run away, jumping from the couch and strutting out of the room as if even she sensed they needed privacy.

The drawing was... stunning. Had Loki not known, he would never believe it to be himself, it was hard to believe someone would see him so. He glanced at Steve and the man smiled sheepishly.

„You can look at the others, I guess.”

Turning pages, Loki saw more of himself. Smirking, smiling, with a box of donuts and plastic ducks they filled the pool with when Steve was little.

„You drew all this in the time...”

„The whole past month we spent together.”

Loki drew a deep breath and looked back at Steve, not even trying to hold a smile. And when Steve got up, and moved to sit next to Loki, and leaned in for a kiss... Loki didn’t stop him.

***

Later, he did as he promised a month ago, and pinned Steve to the ground in a training session. And then they made out on the gym floor until Thor walked in.


End file.
